Looking to craft its first-ever environmental justice policy, Cook County officials hosted a town hall Tuesday at Niles North High School to solicit feedback from residents.
The policy will help guide county decision-making in response to the often larger impact of pollution on lower-income residents. County Commissioner Josina Morita, who has worked on the initiative for two years, said it will address disparities in environmental policy.
“Access to transportation, affordable housing, getting lead out of our schools — there are so many different places where I think the intersection is important,” Morita said.
The county Department of Environment and Sustainability released a survey in 2024 to determine the primary areas of focus for the policy. “Safe and healthy housing” was one of the top three issues respondents were “extremely concerned” about.
Christopher Buccola, a Niles North High School teacher and volunteer at the Sustainable Environmental Advisory Commission of the Village of Skokie, said he was eager to provide feedback on how housing can be further integrated into the proposal.
“You don’t want to put someone on a flood plain, or build houses that are going to get flooded or damaged by storms,” Buccola said.
The current policy prioritizes eight major aspects of environmental justice: air pollution, water-related resources, climate resiliency, access to healthy food, transportation, green spaces, community engagement and economic development.
Morita said another major focus of environmental justice is supporting communities that are historically disadvantaged, many of which were included in the development of the policy.
“For so long, especially for communities of color and low-income communities, decisions were made for them,” Morita said. “Industrial polluting plants were put next to their homes, highways coming through their communities, lack of drinking water — all these things were things that they didn’t have a say in.”
During the meeting, attendees shared their thoughts on the policy and addressed what was missing from the proposal.
Evanston Township High School student Chayse Johnson represented the city’s Youth Advisory Committee and advocated for the policy to provide schools with equal resources.
“Our school really struggles with getting kids to engage and care about school and their life in general,” Johnson said. “If you don’t care about your future, how are you going to care about the community’s future?”
Cook County will host town halls in person and virtually on Jan. 27, Jan. 29 and Feb. 3.
According to DES Acting Director Kevin Schnoes, these events are an opportunity to reaffirm how community members can participate in local initiatives.
“It’s Cook County,” Schnoes said. “It’s 5 million people. Is my two cents going to make any difference here? Hopefully, they realize that those two cents add up. And in fact, they don’t even have to add up — that two cents matters just as much as anybody else’s input.”
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